


Gym Class

by KagSesshlove



Series: Grade School [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: But it's too late, Gen, Poor Damian, another disastrous day at school, batbros, batfam, brothers are adorable, keep your paranoia to yourself, obvs, seriously B, the animals are just there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 08:58:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6278029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KagSesshlove/pseuds/KagSesshlove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Imagine that Damian goes to a regular school full time. And has to do things that normal grade-schoolers have to do. Like participate in gym class.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gym Class

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own anything.
> 
> Warnings: Contains the most precious individual in the world. Also, extremely light angst, which is way more than I intended, to be honest. This was supposed to be funny. But the ending isn’t angsty, so…

Damian wrinkled his nose as Andrews led the entire class to the gym. The facility was top of line – as all buildings on Gotham Academy’s campus were.

The Batcave was better.

Still, this was the only class Damian was looking forward to.

It was a shame that they only had physical education on Friday.

(“It’s your fault, you know.”

“How so, Todd? They’ve had this schedule since before my time.”

“It’s built up karma. For being such a brat all the time. And that one time you tried to stab me with a pen. And that one time you _actually_ stabbed me with a pen. And that time you sent Titus to chase after me for no reason.”

“There was a reason.”

“Yeah, what?”

“You exist.”

“Karma.”)

“All right class!” Andrews said in that annoying voice she used. She clapped her hands and smiled at them. “This is Mr. Carmichael and his assistant Ms. James. They’ll teach P.E. every Friday for the rest of the year. I’ll be back to pick you up after class is over. Mr. Carmichael, Ms. James, I’ll leave you to it.”

The three of them shared a meaningful look before they shot a glance at him, making Damian narrow his eyes. He leaned forward to better read their lips.

“Watch him,” Andrews said.

“Don’t worry; we’ll handle it,” Carmichael replied.

( _What does that mean? Are they planning something? Preparing a kidnapping attempt for ransom, perhaps? I’ll have to be on guard then. Still, I’m impressed; I didn’t think Andrews had it in her.)_

“All right, kids,” Carmichael began, speaking so everyone could hear him, “first things first: you’ll have to change into your gym clothes. Ms. James and I will be standing right outside the doors; shout if anything goes wrong.”

Damian glared at the smile on the man’s face. “Shout if anything goes wrong”? Was that a joke? Was he using that phrase to signal to further co-conspirators that it was best to try and take him in the locker rooms?

Damian scoffed. They might think that it would be easy, but-

The civilians. Of course. They couldn’t possibly know his identity; the family was too careful for that. Not to mention he had made sure not to give anything away whatsoever. But, regardless of their lack of knowledge, they had managed to pin him in; he wouldn’t be able to fight properly if he were surrounded. And he wouldn’t have his knife with him in the gym uniform.

Damian cursed under his breath. He needed to think this through, but he didn’t have much more time before they would reach the locker rooms. What he really needed to do was get to an isolated area…

( _Maybe…_ )

Van Buren would have do. He was annoying anyway.

Damian scowled and pushed the boy walking next to him hard enough so that he fell. Van Buren hit the floor with a thud and cried out.

Everyone turned to look at them, but that was what Damian wanted.

“Hey, you okay, kid?” Carmichael asked, coming over to them.

( _Ha! Putting on a caring façade._ )

“Yes, Van Buren. Are you all right? That was a nasty spill,” Damian said coolly, extending his hand.

Van Buren glared. “What do you- you’re the one who pushed me!”

“Did you hit your head on the way down? Or are you just making up stories?” Damian asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“You pushed me! Mr. Carmichael, Damian pushed me!”

( _That’s what I wanted him to do, but…_ )

“Brat,” he hissed.

Might as well go all out.

“Damian!” Carmichael snapped.

“Carmichael,” Damian returned, staring at the teacher.

The man pursed his lips. “Martha, watch the kids for me; let them play a game or something. To the office, Damian. Let’s go.”

“Gladly.”

* * *

 

Dick groaned as Tim finished telling Bruce about Damian’s week. Though, honestly, it wasn’t as bad as he’d thought it’d be. Tim had completely left out the knife incident, for which Dick was grateful. Bruce probably would have grounded Damian from patrol if he had known.

As it were, Bruce was just preparing to give Damian a “stern talking to”.

At least, he was, until Dick got the phone call.

“Hello?” Dick asked, already dreading what he would hear.

He really wanted Damian’s school to stop calling.

“Hello, this is the Deputy Headmaster of Gotham Academy, Mr. Greenridge.”

Dick pulled the phone away from his face and stared at it.

( _Really, Dami? The Deputy Headmaster? Really? You don’t do anything by halves._ )

“Um… I’m sorry. This is Dick Grayson, Damian’s eldest brother. Bruce can’t talk right now,” ( _Because he’s in the Batcave and if he knew the Deputy Headmaster had called, he would absolutely blow up_.) “What happened?”

“Well…”

( _That’s a pause. That’s not good_.)

“Damian pushed a student down while he was in gym and when Mr. Carmichael, the gym teacher, was taking him to the office…”

“What happened?” Dick repeated.

“Damian… threatened Mr. Carmichael.”

Dick closed his eyes. “What did he say exactly?”

“‘If you think I’ll let you take me, you’re wrong. I will end you, Carmichael. I will destroy everything you’ve ever loved and held dear. I will gouge out your eyes and keep them as a trophy. Don’t test me, Carmichael. And tell Andrews and James I’ll do the same to them.’ Damian is being suspended for a week. If you would come and get him…”

“I’ll be right there,” Dick said. “Thank you for calling.”

“Of course. Have a nice day.”

“Thank you, you too.”

Dick hung up and took a deep breath.

“What happened?”

Dick turned around and gave a strained smile at Cass. “Damian got suspended.”

She blinked.

“What.”

Dick closed his eyes. “Bruce-“

“I can’t believe he-“

“Bruce, please,” Dick interrupted. “Let me go get him, all right. I’ll talk to him. Off patrol for a week?”

“Two,” Bruce growled, but he walked away, so Dick figured that was a win for him.

Sort of.

* * *

 

“Why is Todd here?”

“Really? That’s what you start out with? Just be glad Timmers decided to stay home, you little brat,” Todd said.

“Tt.”

“And I’m here to relish in your punishment.”

“Jay!”

Damian slid into the back seat of the car, crossing his arms and staring out the window, intent to ignore the two idiots in the front seat.

“Two weeks,” Grayson said, interrupting the silence. “No patrol, B’s orders. He’s back, by the way. Came home while you were at school.”

Damian gritted his teeth, but nodded. “It’s not unexpected.”

Grayson looked at him in the rearview mirror. “What happened, Dami? I know you wouldn’t just threaten a civilian for no reason.”

Damian huffed. “Does it matter? I’m still suspended and grounded from patrol.”

“It matters to me,” Grayson said softly, looking back at him when they reached a red light.

Damian sighed. “It was preemptive defense. Carmichael was teaming up with Andrews and James to kidnap me and sell me for ransom.”

Todd choked on his cigarette.

( _Serves him right for smoking.)_

Grayson spluttered. “WHAT? Are you- really? How do you know?”

“The three of them shared a significant look before glancing my way. Andrews said, ‘Watch him,’ and Carmichael replied with, ‘Don’t worry; we’ll handle it.’ Not to mention when Carmichael was directing us to the changing rooms, he said, ‘Shout if anything goes wrong.’ It was obvious they were planning to take me in the changing rooms and were likely signaling their accomplices. So, I made a scene to get him to take me out of the gym, thus isolating the two of us and taking care of the witnesses, while rendering his accomplices inert. Then I dealt with him. I imagine that I was intimidating enough to dissuade him from trying again.”

Todd twisted in his seat and looked back at him, an incredulous expression on his face. “Babybat, that is the most insubstantial evidence for a kidnapping that I have ever heard of.”

“Don’t be stupid, Todd. Of course they were planning to kidnap me. Why else would they be sharing suspicious looks and then looking at me? And talking like that?”

Grayson let out a pitiful sounding sigh. “Because of this.”

“What?”

“That’s Dickiebird’s vague way of saying that you’re a problem child,” Todd said dryly.

Damian scowled. “That makes no sense. What have I done to warrant that title?”

Todd guffawed unattractively. “Tim is going to have a field day with this.”

Damian’s scowl deepened. “I don’t understand your idiotic babbling, Todd!”

“Dami, why would you assume that they wanted to kidnap you? I mean, there are just so many other explanations,” Grayson said.

“Like what? Besides Todd’s ridiculous ‘problem child’ theory.”

Grayson was silent. “It sort of makes sense from his point of view, if you think about it. I mean, this is Damian.”

Todd snorted. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, the kid’s as paranoid as B, so…”

“It’s not paranoia! In fact, I demand a transfer to a new class once my suspension is lifted, since I doubt Father will pull me out, even after this incident. I don’t need to be taught by a woman who once tried to have me kidnapped.”

“Dick, I swear, this kid makes literally no sense, and I’m blaming you.”

“I make perfect sense, Todd!”

“Yeah, and what about the other kids? There are plenty of other rich little students at your school – maybe not Wayne-rich, but rich enough. Why wouldn’t they try to take one of them instead? Especially if they couldn’t get you in the locker room? Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to just grab some random kid, and make the best of it?”

Damian cursed inwardly.

( _I hadn’t thought of that. A civilian could have been taken because I moved too quickly. I need to think these things through more fully_.)

On the outside, he simply snorted. “I don’t understand the minds of plebeian criminals, Todd; I’m not you.”

Todd rolled his eyes and turned back around in his seat.

“Little D… Why did you think the best plan was to get him alone? You know saying something like that would probably only make a kidnapper angry.”

“I trusted that I could fight him if the need arose.”

“But fighting him would have tipped him off to your identity, don’t you think?”

Damian blinked. He hadn’t thought of that.

( _That place is lowering my intelligence_.)

He swallowed. “I admit… that was… impulsive, on my part. I was only thinking of immediately neutralizing him.”

“Oh, so he admits it to you,” Todd muttered exasperatedly.

Grayson sighed. “Just think things through next time, ‘kay, Dami? I don’t want you getting hurt or risking your identity, all right?”

“Yes, Grayson.”

“I swear this is just-“

“Jason?”

“Yeah, Dick?”

“Shut up, please.”

* * *

 

“I want to laugh, but this is just so-“

“I know, right?” Jason agreed. “I couldn’t laugh in the car because it’s just so ridiculous. And he was so serious about it, it was sort of sad.”

“Well, look on the bright side,” Tim proposed.

“You can see a bright side?” Dick asked wearily.

“At least he never got changed. Can you imagine if he’d been in his gym clothes and everyone saw his scars?”

Dick blinked and groaned. “So the options for today were either getting calls suspecting us of abuse, or Damian threatening his teachers and getting suspended for it?”

“This is Demonbrat,” Tim retorted. “Those were literally the best case options for today.”

Dick buried his face in his hands.

“Actually, Babybird’s right about that. We should probably get him some long sleeved shirts and some pants to work out in gym.”

“That would be good,” Cass said. “I’ll talk to Steph.”

“Thanks, Cass,” Dick said, smiling at her softly. “Hey, do you know if he talked to B yet?”

“Oh, he did,” Tim said.

“Shouting?”

“A little,” Cass said.

Dick rubbed his eyes. “I need to go talk to him.”

“Which one?” Jason snorted.

“The one who probably wants to cry, but won’t because he’s trying not to be 10-years old.”

“Cass, you want to take Bruce, or should I?” Tim asked.

Cass slipped off in the direction of Bruce’s office.

( _It’s probably best in this situation_.)

“Will you get Alfie to make some cookies or something? Comfort food, I don’t know,” Dick muttered, getting up from his seat and heading to Damian’s room, not waiting for an answer.

* * *

 

Damian’s door was closed.

Dick leaned his head against the door, eyes closed, breathing deeply. He knocked on the door lightly.

“Damian? Can I come in? Please?”

No answer.

“Damia-“

The door was tugged open sharply, making Dick take a step back to avoid losing his balance.

Dick examined his baby brother closely. No tears, but it looked like a close thing, judging from his posture and expression – the set of his jaw, his clenched fists, the tension in his back.

The fact that he wouldn’t look Dick in the eyes.

“Oh, Dami…”

“What do you want, Grayson? I don’t need your pity, if that’s what you’re here for.”

( _Bruce, you probably could have handled this better. Honestly, what did you say?_ )

“That’s not what I’m here for.”

Damian looked up at him, glaring – that defense mechanism of his. “Then what? You want to know what he said? That I was wrong, and I didn’t think it through, and I reacted too quickly, and I should have done better, and that he’s disappointed in me. I know all that! I already know! So just-“

Enveloping Damian in a hug was the only thing he could have done, so he did it.

Damian didn’t fight him, just stood there, letting him hold him.

“I know I didn’t think it through, but I thought they were kidnappers,” Damian murmured.

“I know.”

“I didn’t mean to disappoint him.”

“I know, Little D. I know.”

* * *

 

(“Tell him you’re sorry.”

“Ca-“

“Tell him.”)

Bruce knocked hesitantly on his youngest son’s door. He knew he had been harsh earlier; he just hadn’t expected to come back home and find that Damian had been suspended from school at the end of his first week.

He had overreacted; he knew that.

But pride was a Wayne thing, and this was going to be difficult.

It was Dick who opened the door, which was what he’d been hoping to avoid really. Dick could be difficult to persuade.

Now was going to be one of those times.

Dick crossed his arms and rose an eyebrow, closing the door behind him.

( _Right. That’s not a good sign_.)

“Dick-“

“You’re disappointed in him, Bruce? Really?”

Bruce didn’t cringe. Outwardly.

“Dick-“

“Do you really think that’s what he needed to hear? He’s sorry. He wasn’t even going to fight the two weeks off patrol! He was just trying to avoid a disaster and you know how he is and how he thinks! And that’s what you said to him?”

“Dick-“

“Do you know what saying something like that does to him? All he really wants to do is make you proud of him! You know that.”

“Dick-“

“And-“

“Dick! I know.”

Dick snapped his mouth shut and stared at him curiously.

“You’re going to apologize?”

“Yes.”

“One week off patrol? Not two?”

“…Yes.”

Dick paused. “All right, B. Just… he’s 10.”

And Bruce knew what Dick was trying to say, so he nodded and walked past Dick, opening the door and going into the room.

Alfred was lying on Titus, and the dog was stretched over Damian’s legs, but his son didn’t seem to mind.

He did seem to mind Bruce’s presence, however, stiffening without even looking up.

Bruce cleared his throat. “I’ve decided only one week off of patrol.”

He could practically hear Dick: “That’s not an apology, Bruce. Don’t make me regret letting you in.”

“I’m…”

“It’s fine,” Damian said shortly, still not looking at him.

“No, Damian,” Bruce said, sitting on his son’s bed. “It’s not. I didn’t expect the suspension, and even after Dick told me about it, I still overreacted. I shouldn’t have.”

Damian looked at him, eye cautiously hopeful, though he was doing his best to hide it. His chin was tilted, his shoulders put back – it was his equivalent of being curled in on himself.

( _He’s never more transparent than when he’s trying to hide something_.)

“I’m sorry, Damian.”

He looked down, but Bruce caught the smile on his face. “Thank you, Father. And… I apologize as well. You were right; I overreacted at school.”

“You were doing what you thought was right.”

“Next time, I’ll think it through.”

There was a pause before Bruce reached out tentatively and put an arm around Damian’s shoulder. Damian leaned into his embrace, just as tentative.

“That’s so cute!”

Damian turned red, tearing out of Bruce’s grasp to glare at Dick.

“Grayson!”

“I’m sending this picture to everyone. Because it’s adorable and no one has really lived until they’ve seen this picture.”

“Grayson…” Damian growled.

Dick smirked. “Tell you what, Little D, I’ll keep the picture to myself if you can get Jason to stop smoking for the rest of the day.”

“Don’t underestimate me, Grayson!” Damian snarled, stomping past his older brother and out into the hallway. “TODD!!! You had better keep your word, Grayson, or I’ll steal your phone and destroy it! TODD!!!”

Dick laughed and leaned against the door frame, looking at Bruce. “Well done, B.”

“Thanks,” he muttered, only partly sarcastic.

Dick just grinned.

 

 

 


End file.
